Android Displays the Power of Open Source

I have five Android devices used by different members of the family.

• HTC Desire HD (Released Q4 2010)
• Samsung Galaxy Tab P1000 (Released Q4 2010)
• HTC Sensation XE (Released Q4 2011)
• Google Galaxy Nexus (Released Q4 2011)
• Samsung Galaxy S III (Released Q2 2012)

All these are, or were, top of the line handsets at the time of their release. However, software support has been so so.

1. The HTC Desire HD and Samsung Galaxy Tab are officially stuck at Gingerbread (Android 2.3.x) due to alleged "performance issues" or other issues. 
2. The HTC Sensation is on Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0.3), and while HTC may update this phone to Android 4.1, my view in HTC's support for softwares updates these days is dimm, so I think this phone will get stuck here.
3. The Google Galaxy Nexus and Samsung Galaxy S III are on Ice Cream Sandwich with Jelly Bean on the way.

So, if we were to look at just Ice Cream Sandwich upgrades, with five top end Android devices, we would have 40% fragmentation. 

But Android is open source. It means kind hearted third parties can mess around with it and give, us what the manufacturers don't want too.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab P1000 is now on Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.04) courtesy of CyanogenMod.  Work is already being done on a Jelly Bean ROM (Android 4.1), with a very functional experimental version on its third release, expect a stable version of this ROM out within the month, or next.

The HTC Desire HD is now also on Android Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.04) courtesy of Team Blackouts ICS Incredible. Actually, it is hard to pick a good Ice Cream Sandwich ROM for the HTC Desire HD. You have too many choices. You have a nice stable full Sense 4 ROM from the Virtuous Team, a nice AOKP (Nexus like) ROM from LorD CloakaN, and literally another dozen other versions. There are already several mature Jelly Bean options too, and if that suits you randomblame's Jelly Time is a good bet.

Of course, you will need to root your phone, and many fora are not too newbie friendly. Don't go it on your own. The nice people at the Phandroid Android Forums are very happy to help first time rooters.

So, what is the bottom line? 

Manufacturers Ice Cream Sandwich compliance for < 2 year old devices = 60%.

Manufacturers + Community Ice Cream Sandwich compliance for < 2 year old devices = 100%.

Will report on the Jelly Bean score card in a few months.

In the end, two obsolete devices, the HTC Desire HD and the Samsung Galaxy Tab have gotten updated that make them viable for a another year or so of use.

Look at this in contrast to a closed environment. The original Apple iPad has good hardware, better than the Apple iPhone 3GS. But the 3GS get one more update to let it live on till 2013. In a few days or weeks, the Apple iPad will be offically obsolete.

The Power of Open Source

Love or hate Windows, one really good thing about Microsoft is that they support a Windows version forever. Well, not literally forever,  but longer than the computer you bought it with is likely to last. Todays new generation computers, made up of smartphones and tablets, are not as lucky. One to two years is what you are likely to get. 

Apple's original iPad, released in March 2010, came with  iOS 4, was upgraded to for two years all the way to iOS 5.1. It wont be getting iOS 6 which will be rolling out to other iOS devices this September.  The Google Nexus One launched in January 2010, started life with Eclair (Android 2.1) and moved on to Gingerbread (Android 2.3). It did not officially get Ice Cream Sandwich, released on October 2011. Basically, you can expect high end devices to get the latest OS for 18-months to 2-years. That does not sound all the impressive.

Many devices are less fortunate. The Samsung Galaxy Tab and HTC Desire HD, both released on October 2010, did not get official an official Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0) updates from Samsung and HTC. Pretty much it got OS updates for just 12-months. Notably, these two devices are more powerful than several new Android phones and tablets which today come with Ice Cream Sandwich out of the box.

But Android is open source. This means, that someone else can legally build what the the Original Equipment Manufacturer does not. This month I upgraded a HTC Desire HD to Android 4.0.4 courtesy of the Blackout ICS Incredible ROM Blackout Team. The Samsung Galaxy Tab got Ice Cream Sandwich via CM9 form the CyanogenMod Team. These are stable ROM's which I now use as my daily drivers and based on months of test versions being released. This illustrates the power of open source. Two obsolete devices are now good for use for another year. And it does not end there. Jelly Bean (Android 4.1) ROM's for both devices have been on beta tests for over a month now. 

Improving the Gnome 3 Desktop

The Gnome 3 desktop has been controversial since its release last year, with many Linux users disagreeing with the design decisions of the Gnome Team. Personally, it has been my favorite desktop environment in the past year. I think most people agree that the empty desktop that Gnome 3 boots too is a bit odd.

Rather than being able to do anything productive, you have to click the Windows Key or move your mouse to the top right corner of the screen in which will reveal a quick launch dock, a link to your to other apps and any open Windows.

There are plenty of available Gnome 3 extensions which allow you to customize the Gnome 3 desktop experience, even allowing you to bring it back to something more like Gnome 2.

I like the stock Gnome 3 experience well enough so I just made minor changes which tweak it in a way I like better. I used the Dash to Dock extension so that the quick launch dock would always be visible unless I run an app full screen. So, when I boot into Gnome 3, this is what I see. 

I also reduced the size of the icons on the dock.

There are 156 extensions right now, which can customize Gnome 3 in different ways, with more being added with each passing week. If you are a Gnome 3 user, give the extensions a look.